Improvement in nickel platings



P, A, NDBMANDEAU.

Nickel-Plating. No.155,8 84. Pate nted0 c't.1-3,1874.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PIERRE ADOLPHE NORMANDEAU, OF BROOKLYN, E. D., NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN NICKEL PLATINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 155,884, dated October 13, 1874; application filed March 7, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PLERRE ADOLPHE Non- MANDEAU, of Brooklyn, E. D., in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Nickel Plating, of which the following is a specification:

In nickel plating it is usual to suspend a plate of nickel in the solution, and connect one pole of the battery to the same, and the other pole to the article to be plated. The nickel is so difficult to melt that the plates are much more expensive than the lumps of metal, besides which the metal is frequently alloyed instead of being pure. To remedy these difficulties, the lumps of nickel have been suspended in a bag of fibrous material, and hung contiguous to the article to be plated, but the bag becomes a conductor of electricity, and interferes with the operation, and if the bag comes into contact with the surface to be plated, in consequence of carelessness, or from the bag changing in form as the pieces of nickel are dissolved, the plating is injured at the point of contact, and sometimes entirely wanting, in consequence of the conductivity of the bag.

My invention-consists in perforated receptacle of gutta-percha, or similar non-conducting and sufficiently rigid material to contain the nickel in lumps and form the anode to which the battery-conductoris connected. This receptacle is suspended by insulated hooks, and can be hung in close proximity to the an ticle to be plated,'and such receptacle is not altered in shape by the nickel lumps subsiding as the metal is dissolved; besides which, the receptacle, being of non-conducting material, does not interfere with the plating should it accidentally touch the article that is being plated.

. In the drawing, Figure 1 is a plan of the tank containing the solution and anode, and Fig. 2 is a cross-section of such anode.

The tank a is of suitable size, and made in the usual manner. The rods b are insulated, and from them are suspended one or more anodes, and to these rods Z) one of the batterywires is connected, and the other wire is connected with the insulated rod d, from which the article or articles to be plated are suspended. The receptacle 0 is made of guttapercha, or similar non-conducting and sulficiently rigid material. The same is perforated With numerous small holesand suspended by non-conducting hooks f from the rod 1). A strip of platina or silver, t, is clamped to the rod 1) by the screw-clip h, and hangs down within the receptacle 0, and around it the lumps of nickel are placed within such receptacle c. This strip of platina becomes the conductor in the electric circuit between the rod b and the nickel.

I do not claim the use of nickel in lumps in a bag or receptacle, as the same have been used. The bag, however, has been of flexible material, and prevented a free circulation of the plating-solutions through the bag. By the use of a receptacle of gutta-percha, perforated with numerous holes, the solution within and without the receptacle is of nearly uniform character, and the gutta-percha does not become saturated with the solution, as a bag does, and hence is always a non-conductor.

I claim as my invention- The receptacle e for the lumps of nickel, made of guttapercha, or similar water-proof non-conducting material, and perforated with numerous holes, for the purposes and as specified.

Signed by me this 17th day of February, A. 1). 1874.

P. ADOLPH NORMANDEAU.

Witnesses:

GEo. T. PINGKNEY, CHAS. H. SMITH. 

